Talk of Sam Darnold’s career resurrection has to clear the ‘Yeah, but ...’ stage

As impressive as it’s been, the ongoing resurrection of Sam Darnold’s flailing NFL career has not proceeded beyond the “Yeah, but …” stage.

Yeah, but it’s only been three games.

Yeah, but Darnold and his Vikings (3-0) have trailed for only 3 minutes, 26 seconds. And that was 3-0 to the Giants in the first quarter.

And here’s the biggest “Yeah, but …”:

Yeah, but look what happened in Carolina in 2021!

The Jets gave up on Darnold, the third overall draft pick in 2018, after the 2020 season. In 2021, Darnold’s new team, Carolina, started 3-0, beating the Jets 19-14, New Orleans 26-7 and Houston 24-9 with Darnold completing 68.2% of his passes for 888 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

Asked Wednesday to compare the two starts, Darnold shrugged and said, “It’s always going to be a different situation. Just really excited about where our team is right now and where we’re going.”

After that 3-0 start in 2021, the Panthers lost four straight and five of six with Darnold as their starter. Weeks 4 and 5 saw him toss five interceptions.

Darnold missed five games that year because of a shoulder injury. He played in relief in Week 16 and lost the last two games as the starter.

After his 3-0 start, Darnold went 1-7 while completing 56.9% of his passes with six touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

Darnold was asked if there was anything in those last eight starts in 2021 that could help him as he heads to Green Bay for his first game at Lambeau Field.

“I think the biggest thing is, like I’ve said, just continue to take it one day at a time,” Darnold said. “Not looking too far in the future. Keeping the main thing the main thing.”

Darnold was typically vanilla with his answers during his Wednesday news conference. When an especially giddy reporter/cameraman asked him, “What do you have to say to all your doubters?” Silent Sam didn’t bite.

“I don’t have anything for those guys,” he said. “Let’s move on from there.”

Darnold heads into Week 4 ranked second in passer rating (117.3), first in touchdown passes (eight), fifth in yards per attempt (8.4) and has just two interceptions. He wore a sleeve on his injured left knee Wednesday but was listed as a full participant as coach Kevin O’Connell went with a walkthrough instead of a typical Wednesday practice.

The challenge now, of course, is consistency, something Darnold fell woefully short of three years ago.

“This league is really set up to build up a team to hopefully have a front-row seat for the fall,” O’Connell said. “The front-row seat is because everyone is expecting it. How do we fight that?”

The answer to that question could determine whether Darnold’s start is remembered as the beginning of something special or just another “Yeah, but …” moment in Darnold’s career.

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